Open Thread: Patriots Nightmare Pick

Hindsight is 20/20 with the NFL Draft, what we’re going to try here is foresight.

That leads me to my nightmare first round pick for the Patriots, and it is a name that a lot of you would like to see in a Patriots uniform next year.

Margus Hunt (DE, SMU) is a prospect that makes me very nervous.

First of all, he will be a 26-year old rookie at the start of training camp, older than almost 20 other players on the Patriots roster. The Patriots are starting to get younger on defense – spending a 1st-round pick that might not be around for a second contract isn’t the way to go.

Hunt is long on size and athleticism, but he is still short on tangible football skills. At 26 years of age, he can’t really be labeled a developmental prospect either.

If you can get Hunt’s pad level down and awareness up, he could be a very good player in the NFL – that said, I don’t want the Patriots to be the team to take that risk.

26 Responses to “Open Thread: Patriots Nightmare Pick”

I’m not so worried about Hunt–he’s definitely a boom-or-bust type of prospect, and the first round might be a little rich, but he also represents the kind of athleticism that the team is missing. I’d be fine with him as a pick.

As to a choice for nightmare first-rounder, it says a lot about this year’s depth that it’s hard to pick one. There are players I don’t really like (Matt Elam, Jonathan Hankins), but not many that send me running for the hills.

We have very little picks & if your relying on a Rookie to bring you over the top your in Big Big trouble!

It is stacked with talent just not top end and they all scare me except maybe Floyd /Cooper

That being said we will be no where close to that high X-Man gets me excited but is he Smart ? enough to play here and i doubt he’s anywhere around 29

Tavon Awsome he’s 153 pound smurf granted speed kills but we have demps for that! yes yes i know he want’s to run track but track ain’t gonna pay the bills.

BB is trading out of 29 i put my Life on it we need a Justin Hunter type maybe Arron Dobson depends on his 40 time

But i think Robert Woods is the Receiver that can help now! Great route runner “Smart” kid good at makeing things happen on intermediate routes .

Hunter is a top 5 pick if he never blows out his knee D. Rogers is a Possbilty atleast to me.

Now D-line eh hem Vince ain’t playing for ever we need to start giveing him a Blow.

K-Love is Garbage shouldn’t be starting Maybe we add Ogeltree and put Hightower at LE I don’t know but the DE in this draft except for maybe soom late rounders the kid from SC real athletic good burst !

It all depends of free agency. BB went as far as the CFL twice to give his Defense some firepower, adding Hightower, Francis and Cjones to the mix w/ a year to develop and they shouldnt be in the hunt for anything Dline early in the draft.
At the end of the day they should have a young wr, S, CB to work with. Superbowl teams hardly rely on rookies to win it anyway so if you are counting on a superbowl next season dont hold your breathe if all these rookies are starters. Maybe in another 2 yrs but its worth having.
I personally would try to get the offense that deep threat then trade all over the place to get those unique talents on my defense but it all starts w/ FA. In 3 years teams will be looking for the next Dion Jordan, rare passrusher..

Johnathan Banks CB Missisipi St – Slow and hence lacks recovery speed when beat . His lean frame would also be a liability when asked to press against NFL Receivers. I would rather they went the free agent route for a CB. I want a CB that is really good at press man.

Cordarelle Patterson – The Pats have had zero luck picking receivers with big time physical attributes but no polish to their game. Our WR coaching seems to have a hard time developing tese guys. Think of Bethel Johnson, Chad Jackson etc. I would rather they got someone who was already a good route runner and showed consistency catching the ball and had some physical upside.

I like Banks too, but he will drop some maybe to #59, along with Poyer, which could be a great value for BB. Trufant, Slay and Logan will be gone I think, as I DON”T see the Patriots taking a CB 1st. After some trade moves, hard to know where 1st pick will be.

good point – not many people factor in or are even ware of Hunt’s age. If the Pats had a good amount of picks this year, he’d would have been worth a shot in late 2nd to mid 3rd. Since that’s not the case, I think it would be wise to stay away from him.

He’s a great athlete, no doubt about it, and would be great to have on special teams for his kick-blocking ability. However he is not well suited to be an edge rusher, at least not an elite one, and tends to have issues with change of direction and play awareness too. At 26 yo, Pats should look elsewhere, imo.

I was just thinking this exact thing this morning! I’ve seen a few mocks with us getting Hunt. He would definitely be the worst nightmare round 1 pick. Agree with everything you wrote about him. Older, project etc.